CAYUGA: 1930'S BOOMTOWN

 

 

            BEFORE WE BEGIN TALKING ABOUT THE EVENTS THAT TRANSFORMED CAYUGA FROM A FARMING VILLAGE INTO A GENUINE OILFIELD BOOMTOWN I WANT TO ASK EVERYONE HERE HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER USING A BIG CHIEF TABLET IN GRADE SCHOOL?

            GREAT!  NOW DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THE BIG CHIEF TABLET IS CONNECTED TO THE DISCOVERY OF OIL AT CAYUGA IN 1934?  YOU WILL BE SURPRISED, BUT BEFORE WE GET TO THAT MATTER LETS FOCUS ON MARCH 3, 1934.

            ON THAT DAY TIDEWATER OIL COMPANY BROUGHT IN A WILDCAT WELL – THE J. N. EDENS #1 – USHERING IN THE CAYUGA OILFIELD -- THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OIL BOOM IN EAST TEXAS SINCE DAD JOINER BROUGHT IN THE DAISY BRADFORD #3 IN 1930.  THAT WAS THE WELL THAT OPENED THE EAST TEXAS FIELD IN RUSK COUNTY– THE LARGEST OIL FIELD IN THE WORLD UP TO THAT TIME.

            THE ONLY OTHER SIGNIFICANT OIL ACTIVITY IN ANDERSON COUNTY HAD BEEN A DOME STRIKE AT BOGGY CREEK IN 1927.  A RECONNAISSANCE REFLECTION SEISMOGRAPH SURVEY WAS BEGUN IN THE LONG LAKE AND CAYUGA AREA IN 1932 BY TIDEWATER OIL COMPANY'S GEOLOGIST GUS SCHMIDT – THE FATHER OF THE CAYUGA OILFIELD.  HE UNDERTOOK THE SURVEY TO DETERMINE THE MERITS OF EXPLORING THIS PORTION OF THE EAST TEXAS BASIN.

            INITIALLY, ACTIVITY WAS CENTERED IN THE LONG LAKE AREA WHERE OIL WAS DISCOVERED ON 17 OCTOBER 1933 WITH THE J. O MONNIG #1 WELL.  INTEREST QUICKLY SHIFTED, HOWEVER, TO THE CAYUGA AREA WHEN SEISMOGRAPHIC RESULTS IN THE PECAN GAP AND AUSTIN CHALK, AND THE GEORGETOWN LIMESTONE FORMATIONS REVEALED PROMISING RESULTS.  THAT SURVEY HAD BEEN MADE IN SEPTEMBER 1932 ALONG THE ROAD FROM TENNESSEE COLONY TO WILDCAT FERRY.

            LEASING BEGAN IN THE CAYUGA AREA AS EARLY AS JULY 1933, AND BY OCTOBER TIDEWATER OR SEABOARD OIL COMPANY HAD ACCUMULATED LEASES COVERING ABOUT 15,000 ACRES THERE.  OTHER LEASES COVERED AN ADDITIONAL 10,000 ACRES AT LEAST. 

            IN NOVEMBER 1933 ONE TRANSACTION, IN A NEARBY AREA, GENERATED A LEASE BONUS OF $13,000 FOR A LOCAL LANDOWNER.

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS OF 10 DECEMBER 1933 REPORTED THAT THERE HAD BEEN A SCRAMBLE FOR LEASES IN THE BETHEL-CAYUGA AREA.  STANOLIND OIL HAD PAID $100,000 FOR LEASES IN THE AREA.

THE NEWS ALSO REPORTED ON 18 JANUARY 1934 THAT TIDEWATER AND SEABOARD WERE EXPECTED TO MOVE IN A RIG FOR A TEST WELL AT CAYUGA WITHIN 10 DAYS, AND THAT IT WAS LIKELY THAT A DERRICK AND RIG FROM THE MONNIG LEASE AT LONG LAKE WOULD BE DISMANTLED AND MOVED TO CAYUGA FOR THAT TEST.

            DRILLING ACTUALLY BEGAN ON THE J. N. EDENS #1 ON FEBRUARY 2, 1934.  BY FEBRUARY 23 IT WAS REPORTED THAT OIL PRODUCTION WAS SEEMINGLY A SURE THING THERE AFTER CORINGS REVEALED 11' OF OIL SATURATED SAND AT 4,077'. 

            ADDITIONALLY, THE WELL SHOWED CONSIDERABLE GAS AT EVEN SHALLOWER LEVELS.  IN FACT, THE WELL BLEW IN AS A GASSER A WEEK EARLIER AT 50,000,000 CUBIC FEET – BUT THAT SLOWED THE PROGRESS TOWARD OIL.

            WITHOUT ANY DOUBT MARCH 3, 1934 IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY IN THE HISTORY OF OIL IN ANDERSON COUNTY, OR IN THIS IMMEDIATE AREA OF EAST TEXAS.  ON THAT DAY THE DISCOVERY WELL WAS BROUGHT IN, AND THE AREA CHANGED FOREVER. 

            THE DMN SAID THAT IT CREATED THE GREATEST EXCITEMENT SINCE DISCOVERY OF THE JOINER FIELD IN 1930.  THE WELL WAS TRULY A GUSHER – IF ALL CHOKES HAD BEEN REMOVED IT WOULD HAVE PRODUCED 10,000 BARRELS PER DAY – THE ENTIRE DAILY ALLOWABLE FOR THE FIELD AS ESTABLISHED BY THE RAILROAD COMMISSION IN AN EMERGENCY MEETING ON MARCH 5.

            ACTIVITY IN THE AREA IMMEDIATELY BECAME FRANTIC – DESCRIBED BY ONE OBSERVER AS LIKE AN ANTHILL WITH PEOPLE RUSHING TO AND FRO – ALMOST TO THE POINT OF HYSTERIA.  THE SMELL AND FEEL OF MONEY WAS IN THE AIR.

            HOWEVER, TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS EVENT AND THE IMPACT IT HAD ON THE LIVES INVOLVED IT IS NECESSARY TO BACK UP A FEW YEARS AND SEE WHAT THE AREA WAS LIKE BEFORE OIL WAS DISCOVERED.

            THE NORTHWESTERN END OF ANDERSON COUNTY WAS SETTLED IN THE 1840'S.  BETHEL WAS THE FIRST POST OFFICE, AND THE NAME "CAYUGA" WAS NOT EVEN KNOWN IN THE AREA UNTIL 1894 WHEN W. A. DAVENPORT MOVED THERE FROM CAYUGA, NEW YORK AND OBTAINED A POST OFFICE BY THAT NAME.  MOST OF THE FAMILIES LIVING IN THE AREA HAD BEEN THERE FOR MANY YEARS, AND THEY WERE ALL FARMERS.

  • THE COMMUNITY WAS STRUGGLING THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION.  COTTON WAS SELLING FOR A NICKEL A POUND, IF YOU COULD FIND A BUYER
  • THERE WAS ONLY ONE SMALL STORE IN THE COMMUNITY
  • NO PAVED ROADS OF ANY KIND.  THE ROAD TO PALESTINE HAD ONLY BEEN GRAVELED IN 1927
  • THE ONLY WAY TO GET ACROSS THE TRINITY RIVER WAS AT WILDCAT FERRY

 WILDCAT FERRY: BEFORE 1934 AND IN 1961

 

 

  • NO ELECTRICITY
  • NO TELEPHONES
  • A GOOD SCHOOL, BUT STILL A COUNTRY SCHOOL—AS LATE AS 1934 IT WAS NOT ACCREDITED AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL, AND THOSE STUDENTS WERE BUSSED TO CROSS ROADS – SOME CAME TO THIS VERY BUILDING IN PALESTINE TO FINISH HIGH SCHOOL
  • NOT MORE THAN A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE OWNED AUTOMOBILES—ONE FAMILY WHO MOVED THERE IN THE EARLY 1930'S FROM DALLAS OWNED A PIERCE ARROW CAR.  IT WAS SO LONG, AND THE ROAD TO PALESTINE SO CROOKED THAT THERE WERE TURNS THAT THE CAR COULD NOT NAVIGATE WITHOUT BACKING AROUND THE CORNER
  • MAIL WAS DELIVERED ON A RURAL ROUTE FROM MALAKOFF OR PALESTINE

            EVEN THOUGH CAYUGA WAS AS ISOLATED AS IT WAS, SOME PEOPLE HAD DREAMED OF THE EXISTENCE OF A VAST RESERVOIR OF OIL THERE FOR MANY YEARS.  IN FACT MUCH OF THE LAND IN THE AREA HAD BEEN LEASED FOR NOMINAL PRICES IN THE EARLY 1920'S AND A FEW SHALLOW WELLS WERE DRILLED.  THAT WAS AS A PART OF AN EARLY RUN THROUGH EAST TEXAS WITH SEISMOGRAPHY SURVEYS, BUT NOTHING REALLY WAS PROVED BY THOSE TESTS.

 

            W. H. ROESER [PRONOUNCED ROZHUR] OF ROESER & PENDLETON OIL COMPANY, LATER A BIG PLAYER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAYUGA FIELD, ACQUIRED MANY OF THE LEASES IN THE EARLY YEARS AND HELD ON TO THEM.  HE DRILLED THE FIRST WELL SOMEWHAT EAST OF THE CAYUGA FIELD, BUT IT WAS DRY. 

            EVEN EARLIER HOWEVER, TWO DALLAS BUSINESSMEN – G. W. WARE AND A. G. WILLS – HAD BOTH ACQUIRED VERY LARGE TRACTS OF LAND AT CAYUGA, AND BOTH OF THEM BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS OIL THERE. 

            WILLS WAS IN THE LUMBER BUSINESS IN DALLAS AND HAD ACQUIRED LAND AT CAYUGA APPARENTLY FOR THE TIMBER.  IN 1976 I INTERVIEWED HIS DAUGHTER, THEN QUITE ELDERLY, AND SHE TOLD ME THAT WITH HER FATHER'S DYING BREATH – LONG BEFORE THE DISCOVERY OF OIL – HE TOLD HER THAT IF SHE SOLD THE CAYUGA LAND TO RETAIN THE MINERAL INTERESTS.  A VAST AMOUNT OF PRODUCTION CAME FROM THAT ACREAGE.

            MR. WILLS' GOOD FRIEND G. W. WARE, A PALLBEARER AT HIS 1917 FUNERAL, OWNED ANOTHER LARGE TRACT ADJACENT TO THE WILLS LAND.  WARE WAS WELL KNOWN AS THE OWNER OF THE PRACTICAL DRAWING COMPANY OF DALLAS, TEXAS – A COMPANY THAT HE HAD FOUNDED IN 1894 AFTER SERVING AS SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING AND PENMANSHIP FIRST IN THE FT. WORTH SCHOOLS AND LATER THE DALLAS SCHOOLS.  PRACTICAL DRAWING WAS THE LARGEST DISTRIBUTOR OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND TEXTS IN THE COUNTRY AT THAT TIME.

            NOW HAS ANYONE FIGURED OUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CAYUGA AND THE BIG CHIEF TABLET?  PRACTICAL DRAWING CO. PRINTED AND MARKETED THE BIG CHIEF TABLE THROUGHOUT TEXAS. 

            WHETHER MR. WILLS OR MR. WARE HAD ANY DIRECT IMPACT ON THE DECISION OF TIDEWATER TO EXPLORE IN THE AREA IS UNKNOWN – BUT WHAT IS KNOWN IS THAT THE HEART OF THE CAYUGA FIELD INCLUDED THE PROPERTY THAT THESE MEN OWNED, AND THEIR FAMILIES BENEFITTED IMMENSELY FROM THEIR HOLDINGS – BUT NOT WITHOUT SOME FIGHTS OVER OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND.

            SO IT WAS INTO THIS ENVIRONMENT THAT THE BOOM CAME IN 1934, AND BOY DID IT COME WITH A BANG.  OF COURSE, THE REAL FUEL THAT PROPELLED THIS BOOM WAS THE CASH MONEY THAT IT GENERATED OR THAT PEOPLE COULD ENVISION.

  • BY 17 MARCH IT WAS REPORTED THAT $550 PER ACRE WAS PAID FOR A LEASE
  • ON 27 APRIL A FORT WORTH COMPANY SOLD A TULSA COMPANY HALF INTEREST IN A 100 ACRE LEASE FOR $125,000
  • ON 29 JUNE RANCHO OIL PAID $1000 PER ACRE FOR A LEASE
  • BY 22 JULY SKELLY HAD PAID ALMOST $1500 PER ACRE FOR HALF INTEREST IN A LEASE

            WITHIN A MATTER OF DAYS THE COMMUNITY HAD CHANGED INTO A FULL-FLEDGED BOOMTOWN.  BEFORE GOING INTO SPECIFICS ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE FIELD AND ITS PRODUCTION IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE JUST HOW BIG OF A BOOMTOWN THIS BECAME.

·         WITHIN A VERY SHORT TIME ALMOST 1000 PEOPLE LIVED THERE

·         50 COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES OPENED, INCLUDING CAFES, GARAGES, TOURIST CAMPS, BOARDING HOUSES, LUMBER YARD, FURNITURE STORE, SHOE SHOP, HAMBURGER STANDS, SERVICE STATIONS, OIL FIELD SUPPLY HOUSES, GROCERY STORES

·         TIDEWATER OIL COMPANY BUILT A "CAMP" WITH MODERN OFFICES AND SUBSTANTIAL HOMES FOR ITS MANAGERIAL STAFF, AND OPENED AN AREA CALLED THE "ROUSTABOUT" CAMP WHERE LABORERS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES COULD BUILD SMALLER RESIDENCES – THE FAMILIES HAD TO HAVE SOMEPLACE TO LIVE

·         DESCRIBED BY ONE WRITER AS A COLLECTION OF "PINE BOX ABODES, PAINT-DAUBED BUSINESS HOUSES AND ROADSIDE HAMBURGER CONCESSIONS"

·         TWO TOWNSITE PROMOTERS LAID OFF SUBDIVISIONS AND BEGAN SELLING LOTS – CONFLICT OVER WHETHER TO CHANGE THE NAME TO "BARTON" OR "LOPERVILLE", THE TWO DEVELOPERS.  LOCAL PRESSURE RESULTED IN THE NAME STAYING THE SAME

·         POST OFFICE REOPENED WITH HENRY JONES AS POSTMASTER

·         NEW BUILDING CONSTRUCTED TO HOUSE A BANK – NEVER OPENED

·         DR'S SPEEGLE AND DUPUY [PRONOUNCED DUPEE] OPENED AN EMERGENCY CLINIC STAFFED BY A REGISTERED NURSE

·         NO BOOMTOWN WOULD BE COMPLETE WITHOUT SOME BOOZE AND GAMBLING – CAYUGA WAS NO EXCEPTION

·         THERE WAS A WELL-KNOWN TAVERN CALLED "MOTHER'S PLACE" – AND I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT "MOTHER", WHOEVER SHE WAS, WAS ONE TOUGH OPERATOR.

·         ALSO THE "CAYUGA AMUSEMENT PARLOR," OFFERING DOMINOES, SLOT MACHINES, BOOZE OR BEER, OR OTHER PHYSICAL PLEASURES FOR THOSE DESIROUS

 

 

CAYUGA AMUSEMENT PARLOR

 

 

·         ELECTRICTY WAS BROUGH TO THE AREA BUT NOT UNTIL 1936 – USED GENERATORS IN THE MEANTIME OR DID WITHOUT

·         A TEMPORARY TELEPHONE LINE WAS BROUGHT IN FROM MALAKOFF BY MAY 1934 AND BY 1936 AN 8 LINE TELEPHONE CABLE WAS INSTALLED

·         WITHIN 10 DAYS THE STATE TOOK OVER MAINTENANCE OF STATE HIGHWAY 22 (WAS NOT 287 THEN), AND ANNOUNCED PLANS TO EXPEDITE A CONTRACT FOR A NEW CONCRETE BRIDGE OVER THE TRINITY RIVER.  BY 1936 THE HIGHWAY WAS REROUTED TO APPROACH THE NEWLY BUILT TRINITY RIVER BRIDGE, AND WILDCAT FERRY WAS GONE FOREVER

·         THE SCHOOL WAS REMODELED, AND BY 1935 IT WAS CHANGED TO AN ISD, ALL ELEVEN GRADES WERE BEING TAUGHT.  IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT A NEW GYMANSIUM HAD BEEN BUILT, COMPLETED IN 1934 BEFORE OIL WAS DISCOVERED, THAT WOULD SEAT 1200 PEOPLE.  LONG BEFORE OIL MONEY WAS AVAILABLE BASKETBALL WAS IMPORTANT THERE.  SOME EVEN SUGGESTED CHANGING THE NAME OF THE TEAM FROM THE WILDCATS TO THE OILERS, AND THAT ALMOST PRECIPITATED A REVOLUTION.

·         SADLY EARLY IN JANUARY 1936 THE SCHOOL BURNED TO THE GROUND, BUT A NEW, COMPLETELY MODERN BUILDING WAS ERECTED ALMOST UNEQUALLED IN THE COUNTY

THE CAYUGA FIELD IS RATHER DRAMATIC FROM A GEOLOGICAL STANDPOINT AS WELL.

 

CAYUGA OILFIELD

 

 

 

                                   

  • ABOUT 14,000 ACRES MOSTLY IN ANDERSON COUNTY BUT ALSO A LITTLE IN HENDERSON COUNTY AND FREESTONE COUNTIES – 2 MILES WIDE AND 9 MILES LONG
  •  TALK ABOUT COUNTY LINE SURVEY
  • BY 1935 TAXABLE VALUE FIXED AT $4,000,000, WITH 65 WELLS—ONLY 2 DRY HOLES IN THE FIRST YEAR; BY 1936, TAXABLE VALUE WAS $7,000,000
  • PRODUCING 250,000 BARRELS OF OIL PER MONTH BY 1936 – BUT OIL SELLING FOR ABOUT 68¢ PER BARREL – THAT WAS FOUR TIMES THE AMOUNT OF PRODUCTION IN ALL THE REST OF ANDERSON COUNTY COMBINED
  • BY 1936 THERE WERE 141 WELLS PRODUCING
  • BY 1937 OVER 4 ½ MILLION BARRELS OF OIL PRODUCED, AND OVER 7 BILLION CUBIC FEET OF GAS

            AT FIRST THE GAS WAS MORE OF A PROBLEM BECAUSE ALL THAT COULD BE DONE WAS TO VENT AND FLARE IT.  HOWEVER, RATHER QUICKLY LONE STAR GAS COMPANY CAME IN TO BUY THE GAS AND TRANSMIT IT TO DALLAS. 

            BY JULY 1935 PLANS WERE UNDERWAY FOR A 20" LINE FROM LONG LAKE TO CAYUGA AND THENCE TO DALLAS.  DAILY GAS FLOW AT THAT EARLY DATE WAS ALREADY 60 MILLION CUBIC FEET.  WORK BEGAN BY SEPTEMBER 1935 WITH A CREW OF 150 MEN.  IT WAS THE LARGEST LINE EVER LAID IN THIS AREA OF EAST TEXAS, AND WAS DESIGNED TO BRING GAS TO DALLAS FOR WINTER HEATING.

            THE INVOLVEMENT OF LONE STAR WITH CAYUGA WAS TO EXPAND AND CONTINUE UNTIL NEAR THE END OF THE CENTURY.  SEVERAL CAMPS WERE BUILT WITH SUBSTANTIAL HOUSES FOR EMPLOYEES, BUT THE FIRST OFFICE BUILDING WAS FAIRLY MODEST.

LONE STAR GAS CO. OFFICE

 

 

            BY 1942 THERE WERE 285 WELLS PRODUCING, ALMOST DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF WELLS IN THE REST OF THE COUNTY COMBINED

  • ALL IN ALL, THE FIELD TOTALS ARE TRULY IMPRESSIVE –
  • MORE THAN 500 WELLS DRILLED AND MANY STILL PRODUCING
  • NEW WELLS STILL BEING DRILLED – GAS PRIMARILY
  • OVER 100 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL PRODUCED, INCLUDING OVER 1 MILLION BARRELS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS
  • GAS IN THE TRILLIONS OF CUBIC FEET
  • CONDENSATE IN THE MILLIONS OF BARRELS – NOT TO MENTION WHAT WAS USED AS "DRIP GAS" TO FUEL LOCAL VEHICLES – ILLEGALLY

            THE GREAT FORTUNES THAT WERE MADE FROM THE CAYUGA OIL FIELD LARGELY WENT TO ABSENTEE LANDLORDS WHO OWNED THE HUGE TRACTS OF LAND THERE.  BUT STILL THERE WAS A LOT OF MONEY THAT FLOWED INTO THE HANDS OF THE LOCALS.  MANY BOUGHT AUTOMOBILES, BUILT HOMES, EDUCATED THEIR CHILDREN AND WENT ON WITH THEIR FARMING LIVES. 

            BUT, THE SMELL OF MONEY ALSO FOUND ITS WAY INTO COURT BATTLES THAT WERE RATHER DRAMATIC.

  • THE "MOST GIGANTIC LAWSUIT" EVER BROUGHT IN ANDERSON COUNTY DISTRICT COURT UP TO THAT TIME WAS FILED IN 1934, INVOLVING THE WARE LAND.  GENEVIEVE WARE SUED MRS. GRACE BAILEY AND THE VARIOUS OIL COMPANIES OVER TITLE TO SOME 3,000 ACRES.  IT WAS THE RESULT OF A COMPLEX TRANSACTION BETWEEN MR. WARE AND JOSEPH W. BAILEY, A DALLAS LAWYER WHO HAD MOVED TO CAYUGA IN THE EARLY 1930'S
  • IN 1936 ADAM CONE AND M. A. DAVEY FILED SUIT OVER SOME OF THE SAME LAND, CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF A ROYALTY INTEREST
  • SEVERAL LAWSUITS WERE FILED AGAINST THE HEIRS OF A. G. WILLS OVER OWNERSHIP OF HIS LAND—NEWSPAPER REPORTED THAT "A BATTERY OF DISTINGUISHED TEXAS LAWYERS" WAS LINED UP ON EACH SIDE
  • THERE WERE MANY SMALLER LAWSUITS BROUGHT BY LOCAL LANDOWNERS AGAINST FAMILY MEMBERS ARISING OUT OF TRANSACTIONS THAT HAD OCCURRED YEARS BEFORE.  ALL SAW THE CHANCE TO MAKE SOME MONEY.  SOME SUCCEEDED, SOME DID NOT.

            ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING LAWSUITS WAS BROUGHT BY THE KENNON FAMILY OVER THE DESECRATION OF THE JOPPA BURIAL GROUND.  THE JOPPA HOLINESS CHURCH HAD BEEN ORGANIZED THERE IN 1899.  IT DID NOT SURVIVE LONG AND WAS GONE BY 1907. BUT DURING ITS EXISTENCE A CHURCHYARD CEMETERY WAS STARTED.  SEVERAL KENNON FAMILY MEMBERS WERE BURIED THERE.  A DEED WAS PROPERLY DRAWN AND RECORDED FOR THE CEMETERY PROPERTY – 1 ACRE.

            UNFORTUNATELY THAT 1 ACRE TRACT LAY SQUARELY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OIL RICH FIELD.  IN APRIL 1934 A LOCAL MAN APPROACHED THE FAMILY AND DEMANDED THAT THE BODIES BURIED THERE BE DISINTERRED AND MOVED.  THE FAMILY REFUSED TO GIVE CONSENT, BUT THE OIL COMPANY'S REPRESENTATIVES DUG THE BODIES UP AND MOVED THEM TO JUDSON CEMETERY.  THAT ACTION ENRAGED THE FAMILY AND THEY PROMPTLY FILED SUIT AGAINS THE COMPANY.

            IN THE MEANTIME THE FAMILY MEMBERS DUG THE BODIES UP FROM JUDSON CEMETERY, PUT THEM BACK WHERE THEY HAD BEEN, AND STOOD GUARD, ARMED WITH SHOTGUNS, UNTIL THE MATTER COULD GO TO COURT.  AS IT STANDS TODAY, NO WELL WAS DRILLED THERE AND THE GRAVES ARE WHERE THEY WERE WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE ORIGINALLY BURIED.  AT LEAST IN THIS ONE INSTANCE THE "LITTLE GUY" PREVAILED.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOPPA BURIAL GROUND

 

 

            IN CONCLUSION, ONE WOULD BE HARD-PRESSED TODAY WHEN DRIVING THROUGH CAYUGA TO REALIZE ALL THAT HAPPENED THERE IN THE 1930'S AND 1940'S.  ONCE AGAIN THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS AND A VERY SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE LIVE THERE.  THE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPACT ON ANDERSON COUNTY AND ALL OF EAST TEXAS CANNOT REALLY BE CALCULATED.  TO SAY THAT IT WAS ALL DRAMATIC IS A TERRIBLE UNDERSTATEMENT.  IN FACT, CAYUGA STILL HOLDS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING ANDERSON COUNTY'S ONE AND ONLY BOOMTOWN.